Thunderstruck
by c4m3r40b5cur4
Summary: [SxC later on, mild ZxC] So, you want to become an officer, Cloud Strife? Are you sure? It seems you'd rather play all day. Another take on Cloud's life before the game.
1. Chapter 1

:Thunderstruck:

Chapter 1

The sweet, bitter air bit through the heavy cloth that was wrapped tightly around the young boy's neck. The winter would be ending shortly in Nibelheim, but not without denying the inhabitants one last snowstorm that whipped throughout the town, shading everything in a cold and glistening blanket of snow and ice. Every home had its shutters drawn tight against the houses; the people inside warmed by their meager fires and tried to forget the sound of the whistling wind shouting through the small cracks.

Nibelheim was a small community that was nestled at the bottom of Mt. Nibel and those who left rarely looked back. A small party of people were near the town's edge, all heavily clothed and bunched together. Their faces were one of hope and yet all were touched by the worn look of sadness.

"Cloud, please, just don't forget your promise to me! Never forget!" The small girl, whose hair rolled about in the wind like it was trying to escape the grief-stricken town and eyes as big and soulful as the ones of doe that ran through the forests, had yelled over the din of the wind. The boy, Cloud, nodded and sat atop his chocobo with a look of sheer will and determination.

"Don't worry, Tifa. When I come back, I will be a SOLDIER First. You'll see." Cloud had offered the small girl a smile and nodded to the older woman, his mother, "Goodbye, Mom. I will see you soon. Don't worry about me. I will send all the money I make back to you, I swear." Cloud motioned for the chocobo to move forward and gave one last wave goodbye to the only place he had ever known as home. His chocobo moved fast towards the plains. Towards a place where no one in his town had gone in over 60 years.

As Cloud had moved closer and closer to the shores of the Great Sea, he had stripped off an article of clothing every few hours. First went his fur coat, made from one of the monsters he had killed the previous year. The second articles were his gloves and hat. Next was his sweater, then his boots to be replaced by sandals, then his pants to shorts, and finally his long sleeved shirt had left his body as the temperature soared above what he was used to up in his mountain home. His spiky blonde hair had finally dried out and his milky complexion had warmed up to the hotter environment. There was no cold bitter wind as Cloud approached the small resort town of Costa del Sol. He let his chocobo go and wandered into the town, completely dazed by the warmth of the entire atmosphere.

Cloud had pulled out the small amount of cash he had gotten from the villagers. The town was fading quickly. It was a blessing to the townsfolk that they were so far removed from civilization, unawares of the corruption and evil of big cities. Except after years and years of separation, Nibelheim was almost to the point of being abandoned. Too many families had left after the Mako Reactor had been installed up into the mountains and whoever had not were offered jobs working there. That was, until the Mako Reactor had a dangerous meltdown and killed three people. SHINRA decided to have it shut down and the workers had nowhere left to turn. With no new money coming into the town and money flowing out to buy supplies, Nibelheim was on a spiral of self-destruction. Until Cloud, the boy of Royal Strife, had shown the promise of a great fighter. The town had come up with an idea. They could send such a promising fighter to Midgar to enroll in SOLDIER! Cloud could send the money back and the town could become prosperous within a few months. They only needed a bit of cash to get it started. Yes, they could send Cloud. Cloud, the son of the brave Royal Strife, they could send him and he would save the town. This is where Cloud stood now, with a fist full of gil and a one-way ticket to Midgar. Cloud, the last hope of the dwindling town of Nibelheim.

The giant ship was something Cloud had never seen before in his life. Living in a landlocked state in the mountains had left Cloud without the great extremes of the sea. The ship, called "Slight of Hand" was a blue ship that was mainly used for moving equipment and supplies. It took on very few passengers but Cloud wanted to leave to Midgar as soon as possible to start the reshaping of Nibelheim. He would bear with the rougher trade of the ship in order to make sure he would be able to make the cut for SOLDIER. He had sent in his Form of Admission weeks before and now he just had to get there.

Cloud had boarded the ship with no anxiety about what was to happen. He was excited; the salty and warm sea air had a calming sensation on his 14-year-old cold-worn skin. Cloud could only imagine what a large and technological city like Midgar had to offer. The possibilities of what was to come were endless to the young boy's thoughts. After years of killing monsters in his hometown, he could perhaps make a living off of that skill. Cloud had settled in to what would be an eight hour sea bound trip and another two hour travel by cargo train to Midgar. The bright sunlight shined brightly over the ship and Cloud could only think of the good things to come.


	2. Chapter 2

So, I pieced together this mess of notes. I wish someone would want to beta these stories hint hint. I just wrote this now, in a rush, for the past hour or whatnot. Enjoy?

Cloud could never have welcomed land more graciously then this. He had not gotten sick on the boat but he had realized that a life on the sea was not one for him. Water to the far reaches of his eyes in every direction had made him homesick and he that the sea was extremely unforgiving. A storm had rolled over the boat midway towards Midgar and he was thrown about the small cabin he was sleeping in. He thanked the Ancients that he had not been on deck when the storm had blown over. But the boy was on land now, bound for Midgar, the train moving slowly with the whine of the machines strapped onto it.

Cloud had exited off the train and walked towards the great gates of Midgar. The garish bright lights that were springing out of Midgar had almost hurt his eyes and the city had a strong, sick smell had settled at the back of his tongue. The smell was so unique that it had stopped Cloud in his tracks. The burning smell of chemicals and the strange, sickly sweet smell of Mako was curling around in his throat and lungs in an almost viscous way. He could almost feel and hear the way that so many people were packed into the city; the meaty smell and the sound of life in its most basic form had assaulted the boy before he even set foot into the city that would soon to be his home. He shook his head and approached the gatehouse to inquire to be received into what seemed a pit of meat and stink.

"Excuse me, sir. How do I enter the city?" Cloud had asked, his voice clear and strong. The guard had looked over the top of his newspaper and casually glanced at the boy.

"You need a pass." The guard had said in a bored and monotonous voice. Cloud furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Well, you see, I am a recruit for SOLDIER and they never sent me anything about a pass." The guard sighed and put down his newspaper. He wheeled his chair over to the computer.

"The Admission Office never gets the passes out," his voice perking up now he knew that this boy was not some hobo, "What's your name? I'll look you up."

"Cloud Strife." The guard quirked an eyebrow and typed into his computer. Mumbling around, he was scrolling and typing on his keyboard.

"Mhmmm, Strife...Strife..."

I was milling around the outer gates near Sector 1, just blowing off some steam after I had a wicked fight with one I will call "Satan". I was walking up to the gatehouse, hopefully to see my old pal Charlie, when I saw one of the weirdest looking kids in my life. Well, I wouldn't quite say weird but he had the most bizarre hair I had ever seen. Except, he looked a bit like me. This made me a little depressed.

"Cloud Strife." The boy had said. Thinking on it, he was supposed to be my SOLDIER "PAL" or Personal Attention for, well, I don't know what it really stood for but it was kind of like an intern position or like The Buddy System. It was given to SOLDIER recruits who showed promise to become officers or something like that. Well, I was to be the boy's big SOLDIER brother and right now, he looked like he was in a bit of a jam.

"Hey yo, Charlie!" I called, waving my hand as I approached the gatehouse. Charlie looked up and smiled.

"Zack! Hey, what are you doing all the way back here? I thought you had meetings all day today." Charlie knew my life down to a pat. Meetings all day, meetings all night, maybe sometimes, when I got lucky, I was allowed to bathe and eat!

"Yeah, I snuck out to cause my usual commotion. I see here this is my SOLDIERPAL, Cloud Strife," I turned to the boy and stuck out my hand.

"Hullo, Cloud. My name is Zachary Cullen and I am your new best friend. Aren't you just so darn lucky to have met up with me at this time?" The boy, Cloud, stuck out his hand and gently shook my hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir." I grinned and patted the boy on the head.

"Hey, no need for that in private. Just call me Zack, okay Spiky?" Cloud had a puzzled look on his face but a small, gentle smile appeared slowly.

"Alright, Zack." I gave him thumbs up and waved a goodbye to Charlie.

"I can tell you are from Nibelheim. Your accent is rather exotic compared to my gutterpunk city talk. It's nice." The boy gave me another puzzled look and looked a bit on the ponderous side. I probably was confusing the hell out of him.

"I guess you ain't much of a talker. That's okay, my roommate isn't much one either. You'll be best friends and you wont even know each other's names!" I sighed. I always was stuck with the quiet ones. Then again, those are the people you should watch out for. You never know what's going on in their heads. The gate opened and I waved a goodbye to Charlie. Immediately, Cloud's head shot up, looking at the hugeness that was Midgar.

"I know it's probably pretty daunting, this giant city. I came from Gongaga, which is a small town like yours. You'll get used to the smell, the people, the sheer giganticness of the buildings. It's all the dirt and garbage. But you'll get used to it in time." I motioned to go through the tunnel and he sighed, just a small exhalation of breath.

"It's not the garbage. It's the Mako. I smell it so strongly, it's at the back of my throat." I looked at the kid out of the side of my eye. His face had a blank look to it but his eyes held a certain fierceness to them. He confused me. I couldn't smell any Mako here and I was a SOLDIER. I should have been sensitive. But as I turned a corner, I spotted a small leak in a pipe and Cloud's eyes narrowed.

"How the hell did you know that was there?" I asked incredulously as I dialed my PHS calling Maintenance. He just stood there, with that blank, passive face, staring at me with those bright eyes.

"I have a certain affinity to Mako, I suppose." He said cryptically. I was wondering what kind of fighter he would be. He was so small and fragile looking. He was an interesting fellow. Very odd, but I was beginning to like him.

We continued to walk up and around Sector one until we traveled to the top plate and entered the Shinra SOLDIER barracks.

"You are quite lucky to be in the SOLDIER barracks instead of grunting it up with the cannon fodder that live below. You have any idea why? I haven't exactly read your file or anything yet..." Cloud puzzled me immensely.

"It might be that I am in school, majoring is sciences and tactics. I have special roles to fulfill in addition to my SOLDIER training. But I am only giving you an educated guess, I do not know the real reason." He said, slowly, thinking about each of his words carefully.

We made the trek up to his apartment, which was almost right across the street from my house, and found out he lived on the third floor, the top floor, in room 12. Room C-12. He could remember that easily.

"I only have one roommate?" He asked, as he set his rather small bag down in one of the rooms. I looked around and saw there was only one other bedroom and no one had settled into it.

"You are rather lucky. One roommate? They are treating you like you are a high-ranking officer. You must have impressed someone with your essay! And you live two doors down from my house. Lady Luck likes you a lot, Spiky. Be glad for that."

Aeris leaned down, her hands deep within the soil, digging a hole to transplant another one of her beautiful flowers.

"Aeris, the boy is here."

"I know, Mother...I...I told Zack. I'm sorry but I just can't stand by-"

"Hush, child. I know. It's alright. I know you tried to do the right thing. "

"Mother, I'm afraid for them. I only wanted to help."

"You will, darling, you will."

"Mother, I only want them to be as happy as they can be. They all have such short happiness."

"Things will work out. They always do."

I will probably be reposting this whole thing after I upload some chapters and fix em up a bit. I've got a plot down in order (obviously trying to loosely follow the game) but if anyone has suggestions, I might take them into consideration for future chapters!

Thanks!


End file.
